The 2010 Countryside Alliance Awards, nicknamed "The Rural Oscars", have opened to nominations. The Awards are the Countryside Alliance's annual celebration of rural skills, produce, heritage and enterprise through the people who work so hard to make our countryside flourish. We have enough awards for produce, but what about the characters behind the business?

B&Q operates a waste donation scheme through all stores. This scheme allows donation of waste materials, for example slightly damaged tins of paint, off-cuts of timber, odd rolls of wallpaper and end of range materials, to community groups, charities and schools.

Equality Act 2010: What do I need to know? A summary guide for voluntary and community sector service providers.

The Equality Act 2010 replaces the existing antidiscrimination laws with a single Act. It simplifies the law, removing inconsistencies and making it easier for people to understand and comply with it. It also strengthens the law in important ways to help tackle discrimination and inequality.

Information from The Conservation Foundation - Announcing the Gardening Against The Odds Awards dedicated to the memory of the writer  Elspeth Thompson, who died earlier this year. Elspeth was one of our London’s Green Corners supporters and judges and we are delighted to be running this new award in association with The Sunday Telegraph and Green & Black’s Organic.

Do we have a contact email address for your community building? If not please contact communitybuildings@wrccrural.org.uk so your details can be added to our distribution list and you can receive the enewsletter, which includes details of the latest funding opportunities.

Street parties and fetes are a traditional part of community life; they are a simple way for us to get to know our neighbours and meet members of our community. This simple step by step guide on how to hold a community event in your local area will make it easier for you to hold these sorts of local events without having to plough through mountains of forms and red tape. It includes one simple form for you to use to let your local authority know about your plans.

Community and voluntary sector organizations are invited to apply to Community Forum Grant Funds which are being offered by Warwickshire County and Warwick District Councils. Grants of up to £3,000 are available to pay for small scale projects that meets community needs and contribute towards the priorities identified by each community forum.

Have you heard about the Asda Foundation?  They give out small amounts of funding up to £15,000.  Business in the Community (BITC) works with Asda nationally and they have asked BITC to highlight this fund.  There has been very little funding given to organisations in Coventry & Warwickshire, so it’s about time they did!  If you do apply please contact Mary Judge (details below) as BITC wants to let Asda HQ know that the application has come about through advertising to community groups.  If the store is not aware of the process please let Mary know so she can talk

The Big Lottery Fund has produced a guide which sets out some ideas of how organisations providing services for young people can involve them in developing, running and reviewing services and activities. The guide is based on findings from the evaluation of the Young People’s Fund (YPF) programme.

The key aim of the Reaching Communities programme is to fund projects which help meet the Big Lottery Fund's mission: ' to bring real improvements to communites, and to lives of people most in need.' We will be using the Fund's strategic themes and outcomes as the framework against which projects will be developed, but the emphasis will be on communities developing projects that respond to their needs and issues.